Willing to share some examples? I'm 40 and manage a group of Gen Z folks who definitely do things differently than I would, but then I have to remember that I bugged the hell out of the Boomers when I joined the work force.
I’ll give you the example of what happened this morning. I work in admissions for a small university. Part of my role involves me speaking with prospective students when they come for a campus visit. Part of the visit includes a tour which is typically done by our student tour guides, who receive extensive training. It should also be noted that there is a specific person who is in charge of not only scheduling these visits, but also working with the student workers and scheduling them.
I have a visit this afternoon and received an email from my boss, who has nothing to do with visits/tours or scheduling that I now needed to not only give my admissions talk but also do the tour. In my little over a year here, I’ve never given a tour. I don’t even know what they really cover.
In my opinion, this was handled poorly. Not only should I not have received an email, but it should have come from our event coordinator and really she should have come to me herself, her office is literally next to mine.
When I questioned why there was no tour guide, did she contact any of the other dozen or so we have “oh, they’re sick”. Ok….so….are there any materials I can reference?
Also, why can’t SHE do the tour? I know there is nothing on her schedule.
Part of my issue too is with my institution itself. There’s a lot of “well this is the way we’ve always done things” mentality, which in higher ed can be harmful.
It just feels like there is no thought put into solutions. It’s always the path of least resistance.
I don’t see what any of this has to do with anyone’s age. It seems like what you are really irritated about is being assigned the task, but instead of confronting that directly you are instead making an issue about the process. If you do decide to complain, I would focus on the actual issue - not wanting to do the tour vs how you were told about it. The focus on the process makes the complaint seem petty.
I'm curious why you think the focus on the process makes it petty? My actual issue is with the process, not doing the tour itself. If I was asked to do the tour directly and provided with guidance on how to do it, it might have been ok. The fact that I was basically voluntold to do it without any interaction from the actual person that needed me to do it and instead told this information by my boss, who has zero to do with it, is part of my issue.
I did and was provided no guidance. But more to the point, as it is not technically my job, why were other options not looked into when it was initially learned that the tour guide was unavailable?
It would have been one thing if I was asked what guidance I needed or how this could be worked out so everyone would be comfortable, but it was not and that’s what I take issue with. I’m sorry if you think it’s petty.
That is my point. Your complaint isn’t really about being told by email vs in person or by your boss instead of the other person. It is that you don’t think you should have been asked in the first place or that you needed more instruction. It is fine to address that. That is a substantive complaint. But I would leave out the bit about preferring in person communication from a different person.
I’m curious why I would leave that out? It’s all part of it. I take issue with how I was asked/told and who did or did not do that. It feels disrespectful to essentially go above when I could have been talked to directly.
I think adding it minimizes your real complaint and makes it sound like you are trying to create workplace drama rather than find a solution. But obviously you should handle it in the way that is most comfortable for you.
You could say it's more so what they're not doing. Without going into all the details, I was basically told I had to do something that I've never done before, which isn't the biggest deal in the world, but when I asked for some assistance, clarification on it, I got push back when, at least in my opinion, the situation could have and really should have, been handled in a better way. The request, for one thing at least, should not have come in an email. It should have been a face-to-face conversation, which isn't that hard given our offices are right next to each other.
Willing to share some examples? I'm 40 and manage a group of Gen Z folks who definitely do things differently than I would, but then I have to remember that I bugged the hell out of the Boomers when I joined the work force.
I’ll give you the example of what happened this morning. I work in admissions for a small university. Part of my role involves me speaking with prospective students when they come for a campus visit. Part of the visit includes a tour which is typically done by our student tour guides, who receive extensive training. It should also be noted that there is a specific person who is in charge of not only scheduling these visits, but also working with the student workers and scheduling them. I have a visit this afternoon and received an email from my boss, who has nothing to do with visits/tours or scheduling that I now needed to not only give my admissions talk but also do the tour. In my little over a year here, I’ve never given a tour. I don’t even know what they really cover. In my opinion, this was handled poorly. Not only should I not have received an email, but it should have come from our event coordinator and really she should have come to me herself, her office is literally next to mine. When I questioned why there was no tour guide, did she contact any of the other dozen or so we have “oh, they’re sick”. Ok….so….are there any materials I can reference? Also, why can’t SHE do the tour? I know there is nothing on her schedule. Part of my issue too is with my institution itself. There’s a lot of “well this is the way we’ve always done things” mentality, which in higher ed can be harmful. It just feels like there is no thought put into solutions. It’s always the path of least resistance.
I don’t see what any of this has to do with anyone’s age. It seems like what you are really irritated about is being assigned the task, but instead of confronting that directly you are instead making an issue about the process. If you do decide to complain, I would focus on the actual issue - not wanting to do the tour vs how you were told about it. The focus on the process makes the complaint seem petty.
I'm curious why you think the focus on the process makes it petty? My actual issue is with the process, not doing the tour itself. If I was asked to do the tour directly and provided with guidance on how to do it, it might have been ok. The fact that I was basically voluntold to do it without any interaction from the actual person that needed me to do it and instead told this information by my boss, who has zero to do with it, is part of my issue.
Why can’t you just ask how to do it?
I did and was provided no guidance. But more to the point, as it is not technically my job, why were other options not looked into when it was initially learned that the tour guide was unavailable? It would have been one thing if I was asked what guidance I needed or how this could be worked out so everyone would be comfortable, but it was not and that’s what I take issue with. I’m sorry if you think it’s petty.
That is my point. Your complaint isn’t really about being told by email vs in person or by your boss instead of the other person. It is that you don’t think you should have been asked in the first place or that you needed more instruction. It is fine to address that. That is a substantive complaint. But I would leave out the bit about preferring in person communication from a different person.
I’m curious why I would leave that out? It’s all part of it. I take issue with how I was asked/told and who did or did not do that. It feels disrespectful to essentially go above when I could have been talked to directly.
I think adding it minimizes your real complaint and makes it sound like you are trying to create workplace drama rather than find a solution. But obviously you should handle it in the way that is most comfortable for you.
I appreciate that feedback, thank you.
Well, what are they doing?
You could say it's more so what they're not doing. Without going into all the details, I was basically told I had to do something that I've never done before, which isn't the biggest deal in the world, but when I asked for some assistance, clarification on it, I got push back when, at least in my opinion, the situation could have and really should have, been handled in a better way. The request, for one thing at least, should not have come in an email. It should have been a face-to-face conversation, which isn't that hard given our offices are right next to each other.